Heartbeat

The game

The orderlies patrol the x-ray ward to their own heartbeat — and inside each thump-window, their cones are blind. You may take exactly one quiet action per beat: one step forward, or one lane change. Freeze between beats, or the detection meter burns hot and the ECG goes flatline. It's a stealth puzzle played as a rhythm game, drawn as a medical x-ray: grayscale bones, rib-bar vignettes, one pulsing red heart at the center of the hall, and a live ECG strip at the bottom that tells you when the beat's shadow is open.

How to play

• Press Enter (or click) to begin; the ECG strip at the bottom shows the beat clock and marks THUMP — MOVE windows.
• Space or → steps one cell forward, but only inside the thump-window — one action per beat, then you're locked until the next.
• ↑ / ↓ (or W / S) change lane instead of stepping forward — same one-action-per-beat rule.
• Between beats, stay out of the orderlies' sight-cones and off their cells; being seen heats the detection meter, and a full meter — or walking into a guard's cell — is a flatline.
• Cross all 13 columns of the ward to clear it; the next ward starts with a faster heart rate and more orderlies. Each step scores 10, clearing a ward scores 100 × its number.
• P or Esc pauses. Sneak, don't sprint — mashing keys outside the beat just draws the cones' attention.